Azure Identity and Access (Entra ID)

Identity is the foundation of security in Azure. Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory / Azure AD) is Azure's cloud-based identity and access management service. It controls who can sign in and what they can access.

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What Is Microsoft Entra ID?

Entra ID is a cloud identity provider that handles:

• Authentication — verifying who you are (sign-in)
• Authorisation — determining what you're allowed to do
• Single sign-on (SSO) — one set of credentials for multiple applications
• Multi-factor authentication (MFA) — requiring a second form of verification
• Conditional access — enforcing policies based on user, device, location, and risk

Entra ID vs On-Premises Active Directory

Feature	On-Premises AD	Entra ID
Protocol	Kerberos, LDAP	OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, SAML
Structure	Organisational Units (OUs), Group Policy	Flat structure, Conditional Access
Location	Your data centre	Cloud-hosted by Microsoft
Integration	Windows domain-joined machines	SaaS apps, Azure resources, Microsoft 365

Many organisations use Entra Connect to synchronise on-premises AD with Entra ID, creating a hybrid identity environment.

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